by Rose Haven
Jackson clenched and unclenched his fists, willing the anger to escape his body. A quick glance at Chase showed he was in the same boat. “We’ve been here in this same house since you ‘died’ so if you really wanted to see us you could have. So cut the shit and tell us what you want.”
Before she could speak a smaller, quieter voice spoke up. “M-M-Mrs. Santangelo?” She stammered with wide eyes at the woman she never thought she’d see again.
The woman’s silver eyes widened in surprise and a genuine smile crossed her face. “Galina dear, how are you?”
Galina stared at three pairs of identical silver eyes, one happy, one confused and one blazing in anger directed at her. “Are you here for me Mrs. Santangelo?”
Jackson settled cold eyes on her, stepping close to use his height advantage to intimidate her. “You know this woman?”
Galina nodded and explained that she worked for the Santangelo family for one year before leaving and eventually ending up at Silver House. She felt her eyes begin to water at the cold look in his eyes.
“That is one hell of a coincidence, wouldn’t you say?”
“Why is it a coincidence?”
Jackson scoffed in disbelief. “That you ended up here and your previous employer happens to be our dead mother!”
She gasped in surprise. “No!”
“Oh yes sweetie, I’ve figured it out. So whatever you and that woman think you’re going to get from us, you can just think again because it’s not happening.”
Galina bit the inside of her jaw and balled her fists tight. She was shocked at Jackson’s accusations, hurt he thought so little of her but she refused to cry in front of him. Or any of them. She refused to give him the power to hurt her. “I’ve already gotten what I want from you Jackson, what more could I want?”
His laugh was bitter even to his own ears. “Since you’ve gotten what you want you can go pack your bags and get a ride back with her since you won’t get a damned thing else!”
She gasped and looked at the three large men in front of her whose eyes were filled with suspicion and disgust. She gave a professional nod and finished rolling the tray loaded with snacks into the room and quietly walked away. Goodbye Jackson. Goodbye Silver House.
Jackson whirled around to face his mother. “Well Mrs. Santangelo, what is it that you want?”
She stood, her petite frame didn’t even reach his chin. “You may have frightened off poor Galina—poor innocent Galina—but you won’t scare me off. I’d like to speak with you boys but I understand if you don’t want that. I would like to speak with your father too.”
Jackson stared at her for endless moments, thinking of the nights, weeks and months he spent crying over his dead mother. He’d had nightmares thinking about her body mangled in that yacht explosion until finally the image of her face became more and more unclear. After a while he’d simply forgotten what she looked like, at least he thought so until he saw her today. He looked to his brothers, disgusted and confused, and stormed out of the library towards the carriage house.
He needed to find Galina and he didn’t really know why. Maybe it was that hurt look on her face when she nodded and left the room or maybe it was the way she stood so strong in the face of his accusations, trying so hard not to let those tears fall. Or maybe it was because he was an ass. A hot tempered ass who lashed out at her because he was mad at his dead mother. “Shit!” He picked up speed and came to a stop at the open door of the carriage house. She was gone. The small house didn’t look much different than it had last night but everything that made it a home, photos and trinkets and pillows, was gone. He knew she couldn’t have gone far, it had only been a few minutes since she left the room.
No, she couldn’t be far, he thought on his way back to the main house. Jackson stopped at a phone and dialed the security gate, hoping the driver had seen her. He hadn’t. None of the staff had seen Galina either, but Jackson suspected they knew where she had gone, they just weren’t too keen to tell him. She wasn’t in the greenhouse either. She had vanished. He ran into his father in the kitchen. “Dad have you seen Galina?”
Vance narrowed his eyes at his son, more than a little angry at his childish behavior. “Not since she told me it was a pleasure to cook for me and kissed me goodbye.” He shook his head, sure now that Ethan and Jackson would never settle down.
“Shit! Where is she?”
Ethan, Chase and Brooke joined them in the kitchen. “Are you calm now little brother?” Chase glared at him, making Jackson feel two feet tall.
“Hell no, I’m not calm Chase. Where is she?”
Brooke stepped in front of his brothers. “She doesn’t want to speak to you.” The icy glare he shot Brooke did nothing to sway her. As the executive assistant to a CEO, she didn’t scare easily and she was pissed Jackson had been so cruel to Galina.
He settled down when Chase put his hand on Brooke’s shoulder, daring Jackson to yell at his woman. “Brooke just tell me.”
She shook her head. “She’s safe and that’s all you need to know. She doesn’t want to see you so if you go away for a while she’ll be gone by the time you return.”
He smiled at Brooke and darted around her and his brother before climbing the stairs in search of Galina. If she wasn’t gone yet she had to be here, inside the house. At the landing he ran toward the hall where the green and gold rooms were staying. Brooke was staying here so he figured Galina must be here too. He opened every door on the left and right of the long hall in search of her. They were all empty. He stood between the doors of the green and gold rooms knowing she was behind one of them.
He turned the knob to the gold room and his breath caught at her small frame on the large bed. Tears were in her eyes, her face was a painful shade of red as she hung up the phone and looked at him. “I’ve called a cab and I’ll be gone within the hour.”
His heart broke at the sad figure before him. She sat primly on the gold duvet, hands resting in her lap as she stared at the wall in front of her, willing those tears to stay away. “Don’t go Galina. Please.” He stepped into the room, his steps tentative.
“I have to Jackson.”
He came a few steps closer. “I didn’t mean it Galina, not any of it. I reacted badly and took it out on you.”
She looked up and felt the pleading in his voice. “That’s okay Jack, really. Don’t worry about it.” She hated that he looked so sad, so disappointed but she was hurt too and disappointed in him.
He took a few more steps until her scent circled his body and squeezed him like a lover’s embrace. “It’s not okay. There’s no fucking excuse for how I behaved and I am so sorry. That woman you know as Mrs. Santangelo, she’s my mother. The mother who died when I was a kid.”
Her eyes widened before she could school her features. “I’m sorry, that must have been quite a shock for you.” She was sad for him but she was still leaving Silver House. Sleeping with him had been wonderful and showed her she could be a passionate woman, but it had also been a mistake. Him yelling at her and firing her in front of all those people was worse than every man who tried to take liberties with her. It made her feel unworthy. Dirty.
“Dammit Galina stop being so understanding! I’m trying to apologize here.” He raked his hands through his unusually messy hair, frustration written all over his features.
“Apology accepted Jackson.” Always. He looked up at her, his silver eyes shining and grateful.
“So you’ll stay?”
She shook her head in resignation. “No. I can’t. I’m sorry.”
“Why?”
She stood up to get back some of the distance he was determined to close. “Because it wouldn’t work and you know it too. You don’t want a relationship and you certainly don’t want one with cook and housekeeper. Be honest.”
This time he did close the gap completely. His toes were touching hers, his chest pressed against hers and his breath washed over her with every exhale. “You want me to be honest? Fine. Honestly I thi
nk you are the most delicate and beautiful creature I’ve ever seen. I love watching the smile you get when you take a batch of cookies from the oven and the way you close your eyes to sniff the flowers, as if they smell better with your eyes closed. I love that you enjoy the simple things and that my money doesn’t impress you.” He took her face in both of his hands to make sure she was looking at him. Nowhere else, but him. “I love the little gasps you make when my mouth touches your body, the way you tremble when I get too close. I’ve wanted you since the day I saw you and I think we could be really good together. Really good. Don’t you?”
Galina looked up into the stormy blue grey eyes inches from her, struck mute by his words. They were honest and sweet, and probably the nicest words anyone had ever said to her. Did she think they could be good together? Really good? She didn’t know. Jackson was a wealthy man with a powerful job and she was…not. Could he really be happy with someone happily who spent her days in the kitchen? Could she be happy knowing all those women wanted him and had no problem offering up their bodies for his use? “I don’t know what I think Jackson.”
He leaned until his forehead rested against hers. “What do you think about me?”
His face was so earnest she couldn’t help but smile. “I think you are wonderful Jackson Silver. Handsome, intelligent, sexy, funny.”
“Sexy, huh?”
She laughed and pushed his chest playfully. “You know you are you silly man. But do you really think it could work, between us I mean?”
He nodded, holding back the smile threatening to break free. “I really do. You make me want to hold you and protect you and love you Galina. I can say I have never felt that about a woman before. Didn’t it feel different to you when we were together, when I was inside you?”
She nodded because it had felt different. Powerful and explosive, intimate and fierce. “I did feel it, but can it last? You won’t get bored being with a baker?”
“Will you get bored being with a CFO? All I talk about are profits and losses, financial analysis and other boring number stuff.”
“I could never get bored with you Jackson, I’ve been half in love with you since the first time you kissed me.”
When she looked up at him from underneath her eyelashes, eyes shining and embarrassed he couldn’t hold back anymore. He took her mouth in a searing kiss. “Then I’ll never stop kissing you.”
Galina pushed him on the bed. “This time, Jackson Silver, I’m doing the kissing.”
Epilogue
An hour later Jackson met his brothers, his father and Mrs. Santangelo in the library with a smile on his face. He tried not to laugh at the incredulous look his brothers threw his way, but he was too happy to hold it in. “So what else is there to discuss here?” He looked around waiting for someone else to speak. Chase shrugged but Jackson would bet he was leaning toward giving her time. Ethan stared blankly back at him and Jackson knew he wanted to throw her out on her ass and never speak of it again.
“I don’t want anything from you boys but I really wanted to see you. I tried to see you a few years after,” she thought for a moment of the right word.
“After your death,” Ethan supplied.
She glared at him. “Yes. But it was too hard and you already seemed to have healed. I didn’t want to interfere with that.” She looked at Jackson and then Chase. “It’s been so long. Is it so wrong to want to see you again?”
“It’s been too long. Too long. We grieved for you and learned to live with that grief and the hole your death created. I’m sorry Mrs. Santangelo but yeah, it is wrong and it’s too late.” Jackson hated the hurt he saw in her eyes that looked so much like his own but he couldn’t ease her guilt. She would have to do that on her own. “I wish you well.”
“I’m sorry mo—Mrs. Santangelo, but maybe now isn’t the best time for this. Leave us your contact information and maybe a little down the road…,” Chase trailed off because he didn’t want to lie or make false promises. He was intrigued but like Jackson, he’d gotten past the pain and didn’t think he wanted to open those wounds up again.
“Boys I’d like a moment if you don’t mind.” Vance’s voice rocked the almost silent library and the boys quickly left, closing the door behind them. “Well Zoe, you’re looking well,” he finally said.
She fell to the sofa in a heap, so much like the young woman he used to know. “It’s Sabrina now. I’m sorry Vance. I didn’t plan it, just so you know.” She looked up into those oddly colored eyes that had been so full of love for her at one point. “I drifted in the ocean for a few days and when I was finally rescued I saw the news and then I realized I didn’t want to go back. I couldn’t go back. It was too much pressure. You know me. I was never cut out to be the wife of a powerful guy like you.”
Vance nodded, not in agreement but just to show he was listening. “I get that, I do Zoe but dammit those boys cried over you, they had nightmares and called out for you! I would have let you go no matter how much it hurt me, but you left them too and that I just can’t forgive.”
“I know. I just wanted to see them, ya know? I hoped after all this time I could be a part of their lives but I see now that it’s too late.”
The library doors opened to reveal Chase and Jackson standing side by side, Ethan behind them silently offering his support with a hand on each shoulder. “Chase may want to talk to you ‘down the line’ but I’m telling you now that I don’t want to see you or hear from you. Go back to your new husband and your new kids and be happy with that.” Chase and Ethan looked at him, surprise in their eyes. “Cade,” was all he said in explanation.
Three heads turned at the sound of the metal wheels of the serving cart before Galina appeared at the end of the hall. She smiled at the Silver men and spoke softly. “I thought maybe a few treats would make this easier.” She looked up hopefully and smiled in relief when each man took several cookies and cupcakes from the cart.
Chase winked at her as he walked away. “This one’s a keeper bro, make sure you hang on to her.”
Jackson grabbed her around the waist and kissed her sweetly. “I am keeping her. Forever.”
She sighed dreamily. “And ever.”
THE END
ETHAN
The Unforgettable Billionaire Brothers
Obsession Book Three
Violet Walker
The Unforgettable Billionaire Brothers: ETHAN
Chapter One
Ethan Silver wasn’t ready to move on. He wasn’t ready to leave behind the family business, to not see his brothers every day. But he would. He would because his father had made it impossible to stay. He’d tried to do the whole marriage thing once before and it had blown up in his face, confirming that he was not cut out for a normal, traditional life.
After the betrayal of Zoe, now known as Sabrina Santangelo, Ethan knew for certain he could never place his trust in a woman. Hell this situation made him almost relieved he had seen his dead mother with his own eyes or he’d be in a world of torment right now. He went in search of Vance and found him sitting in his office staring out onto the grounds of Silver House. “Hey Dad, you got a minute?”
Vance turned at the sound of his middle son’s voice and sighed. He wasn’t ready to have the conversation he knew was coming. The return of his dead wife would only make Ethan more resolute about leaving Silver Enterprises rather than finding a woman to love. Her being deceitful, he knew, only solidified his belief that women couldn’t be trusted to stick around, a painful lesson his son had learned early and never forgotten. He looked up into those violet brown eyes they shared and felt his heart rip in half. “Sure son, come in and have a seat.”
Ethan walked easily to the couch opposite his father and sat. They stared at each other in tense silence before he finally spoke. “I really appreciate you taking me in when my mother died. I would have ended up in foster care otherwise.”
Vance waved away his son’s gratitude. “It was nothing son, we’re family.” He had the grace to fl
ush when Ethan shot him a look of disbelief. It was no secret that Vance had known about Ethan even before he was born, but had chosen to ignore him, to pretend he simply didn’t exist. It wasn’t something they talked about but they both knew it was true.
“Anyway I do appreciate it and that you paid for college and gave me a start in my career. Because of that I’m going to give you enough time to find my replacement so I can train them. I have two candidates I think will be a good fit. After that I’m leaving SE.”
Vance wanted to cry out “don’t go!” but he didn’t. It felt like Ethan was saying goodbye and he couldn’t let that happen. “Don’t be hasty Ethan, you never know what could happen.”
He looked at the hopeful look on the old man’s face and for a minute, he wished he could give Vance what he wanted so he could keep his life as it was. But he knew he couldn’t. He wasn’t cut out for love and marriage and all that crap, a lesson he wasn’t eager to repeat.
Once upon a time Ethan had loved a woman, twice if you counted his mother. He’d loved Toni with his whole heart and he thought—mistakenly—that she loved him too. But he learned the hard way that women were as fickle as the love they proclaimed to want and couldn’t be trusted. He still remembered the second worse day of his life as though it happened yesterday.
Ethan was all smiles now that he was officially about to be an MBA graduate. He was dressed in his cap and gown and multi-colored cords signifying his high academic achievements. His smile brightened when he spotted Toni, or Antonia Chesterfield, as her new business cards introduced her. Toni had graduated yesterday with her MFA and already had a job as an art buyer for a few of her father’s millionaire friends. Together, Ethan was sure, they would rule the world. “Hey Toni.”
She looked up at him with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes but Ethan ignored it. “Hi Ethan. Congratulations.” She fingered the cords dangling from his neck and gave his chest a brief pat.